El Paso Holocaust Museum

   Like the other museums that we visited in El Paso, this one is on the small side. Even so the exhibits are very well done. By watching short videos in each section, visitors follow the story of Hitler’s rise, the horrendous treatment of the Jewish people in the ghettos, the horrors of the concentration camps, the liberation of the camps, and the search for a new home. The final room features interviews with some of the survivors. Parts of the displays are graphic so I wouldn’t recommend taking young children to the museum.

  Most of the museum is accessible. A separate doorway allows the box car, which has steps, to be bypassed. Several doors are very heavy.

  The museum has a small parking lot. Large RVs may be able to be parked lengthwise across the spaces if the museum isn’t busy. Museum
31.76203, -106.4923

El Paso Museum of Art

   Very interesting art in this small museum! The permanent collections include 12th- 18th century European art, Mexican religious art, southwestern US art and contemporary art so there’s quite a variety. 

   Everything is accessible.

   Parking is limited so we parked a few blocks north in front of the El Paso Museum of History. Most of the curb cuts are good but it’s a bit of an uphill on the return trip. Museum
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El Paso Museum of History

  This is a fairly small museum with four galleries. The main gallery on the second floor contains permanent displays covering the history of El Paso. Two other galleries have changing exhibits. The forth gallery was under construction during our visit.

   The museum is accessible but some of the exhibit cases are too high for easy viewing of all of the artifacts. The sidewalks to the entrance are patterned to look like rock and are very bumpy.

  Metered parking is available along the street in front of the museum. RVs will fit, using several spaces.  Museum
31.75981, -106.49178

Prada Store

   About 1 1/2 miles east of the tiny town of Valentine, Texas, in the middle of very desolate scrub desert, is a Prada store complete with shoes and purses! Pushing on the door won't get you anywhere though because it’s actually a sculpture. It’s easy to zip right past it so keep your eyes on the south side of the highway. It’s worth a stop just for the oddness of it. "Store"
30.60347, -104.51832
        
       

Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Area

  The viewing area is a few miles east of Marfa and has a large, paved parking lot, restrooms with vault toilets, and a patio facing towards the open desert where the mysterious lights have been spotted. The lights are small balls of color which hover around the horizon after sunset and throughout the night. No one is sure what they are but explanations range from car lights to ghosts.

  The parking lot is large enough to stay overnight which we have done several times. We spotted the lights on one visit only so even if you stay overnight you may not see them.

  The restrooms and viewing area are accessible. There’s also a path with interpretive signs about the lights and history of the area. It’s surfaced with loose rock and is only accessible with help.  Lights
30.27504, -103.88272

Museum of the Big Bend

   The history of the Big Bend region and Big Bend National Park are covered in this excellent little museum. It’s located on the Sul Ross State University campus in a 1937 Work Projects building that’s constructed with native rock.

   Everything is accessible. Follow the sidewalk around to the front of the museum for the ramp to the entrance.

   Parking for cars to available in the rear of the museum. It may be possible to park RVs in the larger, classroom lot next to the museum lot. Museum
30.36426, -103.65128

Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center

   When the railroad came through west Texas in the late 1870s Roy Bean established a tent city and saloon for the workers. The nearest court was 200 miles away so some type of local law enforcement was deemed necessary. The job of Justice of the Peace was offered to Roy Bean. No one had ever seen the type of law practiced by Judge Roy Bean! He did not permit appeals or hung juries and he kept all of the fines which were almost always the exact amount that the accused had in his pockets.

  The site includes a Texas state information center with pamphlets, maps, a few exhibits, and a short movie about Judge Bean. A cactus garden plus two buildings built by Judge Bean, a courthouse/saloon/billiards hall, and a house are also on the grounds.

   Everything is accessible.The information center has push button door. Some of the exhibits are too high to view easily. The movie room has movable chairs. Both the courthouse and house have ramps. The grounds and garden paths are paved with flat stones.

  Parking for RVs is available along the streets. Visitor Center
29.80897, -101.56058
        
        

Picnic Table With a View

  Picnic table pull-offs found along rural Texas roads are like tiny campgrounds, free to stay for up to 24 hours. Some are nicer than others. This is one of our favorites. It sits high above the Pecos River with an access road that ends in a large loop. There are tables with shelters, signs along the overlook, and plenty of room for RVs. The shelters are accessible. There isn’t a ramp to the overlook but the view can be seen from the shelters or from your vehicle.  29.70609, -101.35323

Whitehead Memorial Museum

  The museum entrance and admissions center is located in the old Perry Store, built in 1871 and at one time the largest store between San Antonio and El Paso. The rest of the museum consists of a few relocated old buildings plus some newer ones positioned around a center courtyard. Each building has displays about different aspects of local history. A popular display is a large nativity scene with more than 600 figurines of people, animals, and angels.

  The museum is semi-accessible. The entrance has a step up and a double door which must be opened completely to allow wheelchair access. A flat stone path circles around to all of the buildings. Most have ramps but some have steps and uneven or high thresholds. The second floor of the store is accessed by steps only.

   One handicapped parking space, large enough for a van, is located next to the entrance. All other visitors can park along the street. The northern section of Main Street is very narrow so if you chose that route be cautious. Museum
29.35198, -100.89817
          
          

Mitchell Lake Audubon Center

   This bird sanctuary, located on the north end of Lake Mitchell, was a wastewater treatment plant for many years. When the plant shut down in 1987, the San Antonio Water System collaborated with the National Audubon Society to preserve the holding ponds and basins to be used by more than 300 species of migrating and native birds. We don’t know much about birds but I think that most of the ones that we saw were fairly common ducks, geese, pelicans, shorebirds, and song birds.

   The road from the entrance to the main parking is paved but some portions are potholed or humped and uneven. All of the other roads are hard packed sand. The main road through the center of the ponds is the only one that doesn’t have a lot of grass growing in the middle which is difficult to push through.

   The entrance road is gated with a push button to open it. The visitor center lot is big enough for small RVs. It may be possible to park larger ones parallel to the road. Stop and get a map then continue to the main parking lot and the trails around the ponds. During our winter visit vehicles were permitted to continue along the center road to access the ponds and the lake.  Center
29.31084, -98.50024